Theory of Everything
by Sharad Gandhi
Here is a summary of my "theory of everything" which I have been developing over the last years based on my experiences, reading and thinking. This maybe a difficult reading at first go, however ….
All matter is organized through the unchanging and ubiquitous laws of nature (physics, chemistry, genetics, evolution …etc.). All matter is perpetually changing (buddhist principle of impermanence). Matter means everything – atoms to galaxies, virus to plants to every animal including humans, even all types of energy. Matter also includes thoughts, emotions, feelings – which are products of our brain (matter). Every thing and every process that we witness is through the effect of laws of nature on matter. And it all happens (only) in the present moment (Now). Laws of nature cannot act in the past or in the future. Nature has no persistence. And nature has no evolution plans as to what should happen in the next instance, or as a final outcome. However, what we can always say for sure is that whatever happens in the next instance (which also becomes the "Now") will strictly be the consequence of the unchanging laws of nature. Nature is totally neutral and has no biases (no good or bad). Its laws are inviolable and omnipresent.
I have identified two entities (which are not things, not matter) that are change-less, always constant, always born and will never die: The laws of nature, and the present moment (Now). They were, are and will always be the same. Laws of nature and Now are two manifestations of the "supreme essence". They are beyond concepts – beyond explanations. I use the words "supreme essence" because it exists everywhere and is always present – without exceptions. It is the fabric of reality. That is why laws of nature and Now are constant, unchanging, omnipresent and ubiquitous. Eastern spiritual thinking says only changeless is real. Everything that can change (all types of matter) is maya. Supreme essence is real.
Now comes the spiritual part. There is a third manifestation of the same supreme essence which is even more complex and abstract to comprehend. It has no name. It can be sensed by life forms of sufficient mental complexity as the inner feeling of "I am". I may not know who I am, but in my deeper moments I know that I am not the body wrapped by an ego. That feeling of "I am" is our connection to our real self – the supreme essence. That feeling of "I am" was identical when I was a kid, a student and even now – although my body matter changed many, many times. It does not change even if a person loses an arm, a leg or more. Our brains (matter) are evolved to an extent that we have the capability (self awareness) to sense the supreme essence as the feeling of "I am". As an analogy, it is like having a magnet that can sense the magnetic field. When our body (which is matter) loses its capacity to maintain itself (when some vital organs fail) and die, the supreme essence continues to be present, but we lose the ability to sense it. In my view, the concept of individual soul is very egoistic – and I do not believe in it. It is a construct of our egoistic mind that cannot accept that with death everything about the self dies (transforms). People love to believe that the soul continues to exist. In my view, there is no individual soul. At most it is an imagined proxy for the supreme essence that generates the feeling of "I am". There is no reincarnation, because there is no soul. The real self, the supreme essence, that never leaves the body, and is always present, whether the body is alive or dead. Only the body loses its capability to sense it.
Bottom line: The supreme essence is formless, impartial, neutral, non-interventionist, a constant "field" that is omnipresent, ubiquitous and changeless. It manifests itself as perpetual laws of nature acting in the Now on all types of matter and it also creates the feeling of "I am" in complex life forms (humans), who confuse it for an individual soul. Most people may equate what I call supreme essence with what they call "god". Supreme essence just exists – it does not "do" anything, and has no intention or a plan.
This concept of constant energy in "nothing" also constantly appears in E. Tolle's books. He always says that our mind is designed to always drawn towards "things" and ignores the space around it – where all the real energy is (I guess, due to evolutionary survival needs). Space is the container of things. Even when we look up in the sky into the space – we are really looking at the stars (things) and ignore the space. Similarly, at the virtual level, thoughts and emotions are "things" in the space of consciousness and the mind perceives mostly the thoughts/emotions and not the underlying space of consciousness where the real "me" is.
I am convinced that this changeless, spiritual, omnipresent energy field (which I label as supreme essence) which exists everywhere in the universe giving three changeless attributes to every point in it: universal laws of nature, "Now" and the sense of "I am" in life forms (e.g. Humans) that are capable of perceiving this spiritual energy. It is just my way of expressing the "kan kan me bhagwan" concept. To me the concept of an influenceable, human-like bhagwan is as ridiculous as influenceable, human-like gravitational or magnetic field. The field of this supreme essence is felt by everything in the form of the unchanging laws of nature. Hence for me, statements like – we are all one, all are children of god, god acts through us, god does everything etc. can be seen as meaningful as soon as we replace the word god with this supreme essence. Maybe that is what the original thinkers always meant and is now corrupted by religious institutions and priests. Religions have created an interventional, influenceable god with human-like nature as a means of having power for the priests and fear for the rest.
In Buddhist spiritual interpretation Truth is the same as "Reality". And Reality means "What IS. — In its totality."
Reality consist of "Things" and "Non-Things" (my definition).
Things are governed by the laws of nature (physics, genetics, etc.), and "Non-things" can only be experienced, felt or "seen" (as described by Buddha), but cannot be completely explained in words – since words are just concepts (approximate description of reality). Words "point to" the reality, but cannot explain it. Hence, in spiritual learnings one should never take words to be exact. They can just point to the reality. Here is something from my favorite Buddhism book: We cannot hold Truth with words. We can only "see" it, experience it, for ourselves. No words – Buddha's, mine, or anyone else's – can "see" for you. You must do that yourself, as Buddha did under the Bodhi tree. Buddhism is not a belief system. Buddhism is about "seeing" the reality."
I do not believe in god in the conventional meaning of the word. However, I sense that there is a form of Energy (I call it the Supreme Essence) that is impartially, omnipresent in the universe, giving every point in the universe the identical and unchanging laws of nature (that run the "things"). It also gives life to matter that is "organized to function" as "living". When we die, our body is no longer functional enough to tap that Energy to "live" - although that energy never ceases to be in the body. Humans have complex brains, that are capable of sensing/feeling this Energy – in the form of love, joy and peace. Hence statements like God is Love, God is Truth do make sense to me – even though I am allergic to the word God, due to its conventional, personified and interventionist meaning – which I cannot not agree with.
by Sharad Gandhi
Sept. 19, 2012
Here is a summary of my "theory of everything" which I have been developing over the last years based on my experiences, reading and thinking. This maybe a difficult reading at first go, however ….
All matter is organized through the unchanging and ubiquitous laws of nature (physics, chemistry, genetics, evolution …etc.). All matter is perpetually changing (buddhist principle of impermanence). Matter means everything – atoms to galaxies, virus to plants to every animal including humans, even all types of energy. Matter also includes thoughts, emotions, feelings – which are products of our brain (matter). Every thing and every process that we witness is through the effect of laws of nature on matter. And it all happens (only) in the present moment (Now). Laws of nature cannot act in the past or in the future. Nature has no persistence. And nature has no evolution plans as to what should happen in the next instance, or as a final outcome. However, what we can always say for sure is that whatever happens in the next instance (which also becomes the "Now") will strictly be the consequence of the unchanging laws of nature. Nature is totally neutral and has no biases (no good or bad). Its laws are inviolable and omnipresent.
I have identified two entities (which are not things, not matter) that are change-less, always constant, always born and will never die: The laws of nature, and the present moment (Now). They were, are and will always be the same. Laws of nature and Now are two manifestations of the "supreme essence". They are beyond concepts – beyond explanations. I use the words "supreme essence" because it exists everywhere and is always present – without exceptions. It is the fabric of reality. That is why laws of nature and Now are constant, unchanging, omnipresent and ubiquitous. Eastern spiritual thinking says only changeless is real. Everything that can change (all types of matter) is maya. Supreme essence is real.
Now comes the spiritual part. There is a third manifestation of the same supreme essence which is even more complex and abstract to comprehend. It has no name. It can be sensed by life forms of sufficient mental complexity as the inner feeling of "I am". I may not know who I am, but in my deeper moments I know that I am not the body wrapped by an ego. That feeling of "I am" is our connection to our real self – the supreme essence. That feeling of "I am" was identical when I was a kid, a student and even now – although my body matter changed many, many times. It does not change even if a person loses an arm, a leg or more. Our brains (matter) are evolved to an extent that we have the capability (self awareness) to sense the supreme essence as the feeling of "I am". As an analogy, it is like having a magnet that can sense the magnetic field. When our body (which is matter) loses its capacity to maintain itself (when some vital organs fail) and die, the supreme essence continues to be present, but we lose the ability to sense it. In my view, the concept of individual soul is very egoistic – and I do not believe in it. It is a construct of our egoistic mind that cannot accept that with death everything about the self dies (transforms). People love to believe that the soul continues to exist. In my view, there is no individual soul. At most it is an imagined proxy for the supreme essence that generates the feeling of "I am". There is no reincarnation, because there is no soul. The real self, the supreme essence, that never leaves the body, and is always present, whether the body is alive or dead. Only the body loses its capability to sense it.
Bottom line: The supreme essence is formless, impartial, neutral, non-interventionist, a constant "field" that is omnipresent, ubiquitous and changeless. It manifests itself as perpetual laws of nature acting in the Now on all types of matter and it also creates the feeling of "I am" in complex life forms (humans), who confuse it for an individual soul. Most people may equate what I call supreme essence with what they call "god". Supreme essence just exists – it does not "do" anything, and has no intention or a plan.
November 13, 2012
This concept of constant energy in "nothing" also constantly appears in E. Tolle's books. He always says that our mind is designed to always drawn towards "things" and ignores the space around it – where all the real energy is (I guess, due to evolutionary survival needs). Space is the container of things. Even when we look up in the sky into the space – we are really looking at the stars (things) and ignore the space. Similarly, at the virtual level, thoughts and emotions are "things" in the space of consciousness and the mind perceives mostly the thoughts/emotions and not the underlying space of consciousness where the real "me" is.
I am convinced that this changeless, spiritual, omnipresent energy field (which I label as supreme essence) which exists everywhere in the universe giving three changeless attributes to every point in it: universal laws of nature, "Now" and the sense of "I am" in life forms (e.g. Humans) that are capable of perceiving this spiritual energy. It is just my way of expressing the "kan kan me bhagwan" concept. To me the concept of an influenceable, human-like bhagwan is as ridiculous as influenceable, human-like gravitational or magnetic field. The field of this supreme essence is felt by everything in the form of the unchanging laws of nature. Hence for me, statements like – we are all one, all are children of god, god acts through us, god does everything etc. can be seen as meaningful as soon as we replace the word god with this supreme essence. Maybe that is what the original thinkers always meant and is now corrupted by religious institutions and priests. Religions have created an interventional, influenceable god with human-like nature as a means of having power for the priests and fear for the rest.
December 28, 2012
In Buddhist spiritual interpretation Truth is the same as "Reality". And Reality means "What IS. — In its totality."
Reality consist of "Things" and "Non-Things" (my definition).
Things are governed by the laws of nature (physics, genetics, etc.), and "Non-things" can only be experienced, felt or "seen" (as described by Buddha), but cannot be completely explained in words – since words are just concepts (approximate description of reality). Words "point to" the reality, but cannot explain it. Hence, in spiritual learnings one should never take words to be exact. They can just point to the reality. Here is something from my favorite Buddhism book: We cannot hold Truth with words. We can only "see" it, experience it, for ourselves. No words – Buddha's, mine, or anyone else's – can "see" for you. You must do that yourself, as Buddha did under the Bodhi tree. Buddhism is not a belief system. Buddhism is about "seeing" the reality."
I do not believe in god in the conventional meaning of the word. However, I sense that there is a form of Energy (I call it the Supreme Essence) that is impartially, omnipresent in the universe, giving every point in the universe the identical and unchanging laws of nature (that run the "things"). It also gives life to matter that is "organized to function" as "living". When we die, our body is no longer functional enough to tap that Energy to "live" - although that energy never ceases to be in the body. Humans have complex brains, that are capable of sensing/feeling this Energy – in the form of love, joy and peace. Hence statements like God is Love, God is Truth do make sense to me – even though I am allergic to the word God, due to its conventional, personified and interventionist meaning – which I cannot not agree with.
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